Abstract

There is an inherent tension in the U.S. system of accreditation. Historically, the system has been oneof self-regulation (Brittingham, 2009). As access to higher education has grown, however, and theconcomitant flow of federal money to colleges and universities has increased, the federal governmentand the taxpayers it represents have called for more and more external reporting of measures ofcollege quality. Critics of the current system would like more external oversight to create what they havetermed variously a “culture of quality” or a “culture of evidence” (Bardo, 2009; Crow, 2009; Kelderman,2009; Understanding, 2001). The most dissatisfied would like to remove regional accrediting approvalas the imprimatur that authorizes federal funds; those critics would delegate the power to authorizespending public funds to some branch of the federal government (Graca, 2009). Defenders of thecurrent system point to the power of self-regulation to establish an ongoing culture of improvement incolleges and universities more effectively than external regulation can achieve (Kelderman, 2009;Oden, 2009). For the purposes of this study, it is important to note that both critics and defenderspredicate their arguments for being the better path to achieving educational quality on the belief that itwill take transformed organizational cultures in higher education to sustain any real overhaul ofeducational outcome attainment. This article considers both sides of the accreditation debate and usesGlaser, Zamanou, and Hacker’s (1987) Organizational Culture Survey (OCS) to create a unique dataset to explore the question: to what extent does participating in regional accreditation affectperceptions of organizational culture for members of those cultures?

Academic Leadership Journal ensures quality control of journal submissions will be maintained through the same refereed process as scholars are accustomed. Academic Leadership Journal emphasizes that the Journal should provide a balanced perspective between research and pedagogy, and application and process.